Tag: You Raise Me Up

Sometimes people can be cruel. They can be cruel even as adults, due to their own ignorance – ie. the lack of awareness and sensitivity or the misguided intent to harm…and also due to their own limited capacity for feeling the feelings of others. When one is the beneficiary of this unkindness, what is one to do?

The oh-so-very human instinct is to lash out, to criticize, to confront, to tell off, to blame and rage. You are hurt, and you feel threatened. You may even feel disbelief.

But if you examine this option and find it to be what Buddhists call the ‘wrong action’, either because it diminishes you or the other/s, perhaps the only way through these senseless and heartless attacks is to turn the cheek, as the old saying goes. Hard to do. I believe what it really means is to turn your attention away from this harshness and towards those who have love for you.

Turn towards your lover or a close friend, or if you are a believer in a faith, then turn towards your spiritual source. Be lifted by those who love you. And know this: you are in better shape than these people who walk through life in a state of disingenuity and loathing.

If you recognize such individuals are no longer good for you, then release them. Disconnect. Let them go. If they are in your world, know your boundaries. Draw them in an assertive but friendly manner. Kill them with kindness, if you must…genuinely. They will hate this, but you will not be actively engaged in the battle they want to evoke in you. You will have risen above this. Power to you.

In Buddhism, ‘evil’ is known as the extreme lack of conscience, the lack of the capacity to feel remorse when going against one’s values. For all kinds of reasons, people lack conscience. But recognize it, look after yourself, and move on. Think of such people with a form of pity or compassion.

Whether you realize it or not, your life is better than that of the other person or people who would seek to harm you. Let those who love you be the ones to lift you up and remind you of how truly spectacular you are. In turn, put your attention on those you love or those who need your love.

This is why we are alive.

PS. All of these versions of this song, ‘You Raise Me Up’ by Josh Groban, are beautiful. But I prefer most the sweet, sweet cover by Yianna Stavrou. This one is for you. Bathe in the beauty of that music. Let it lift your spirit.

You Raise Me Up – Josh Groban

When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

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